


All my best lies

by Anonymous



Category: New Warriors
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Ambushes and Sneak Attacks, Fear of Discovery, Gen, Mentions of the rest of the team - Freeform, Omega Vance, Secrets, Superheroes, mentions of assault
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-22
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-06-14 10:27:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15386769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Vance has faked being a beta so long that it comes as a surprise when a teammate not only discovers his subterfuge but secretly encourages it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [New_Warriors_Fandom_Prompt_Meme_2018](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/New_Warriors_Fandom_Prompt_Meme_2018) collection. 



> **Prompt:**  
> 
> A/B/O where Vance is omega.

The first time they fight as a team, Vance is anxious. He _projects_ confidence but his nerves eat him alive. It’s one thing successfully masquerading as a beta at college, it’s another in close proximity to a group of strangers, of which, statistically half will be alpha, a measly percentage are ever revealed as omegas-- thank god. Despite his own fears of discovery, no one suspects anything; they’re too busy complaining about the Avengers sweeping in and taking all the good press.

When they _lose_ their first fight as a team, he’s paralysed with fear. Will their captors discover his secret? They couldn’t care less, caging the team and taunting them from behind the bars, like the pack of juvenile delinquents they are. It’s weird. Who knew that the bad guys could be so bad at being _bad_?

He increases his scent diffuser on the days he trains and puts up with the jokes about wearing too much cologne, spends as much as he can on better suppression implants as each in turn expires; the time between replacements decrease with better quality implants. His mother laments his choice not to change to pass. His father refuses to acknowledge his presence at all. Hasn't since his first heat.

Working out who is what on the team isn’t difficult. Dwayne is an alpha, so are Nova and Nita. Speedball is a beta, Firestar is harder to classify but Vance settles on beta with anger management problems after a few weeks. No one talks about it much, except Nova and Nita, who have a running joke about who will wreck the other first. The rest of them take bets on the outcome. He tenses up whenever one of them touches him, nearly passes out when Nova slings an arm over his shoulders after training one day, sweaty and gross and exuding excess alpha pheromones, joking about how Nita is finally falling for his charms after she literally fell into his arms during a misadventure with Speedball. Vance tells him he's dreaming and shrugs the arm off. Nita winks at him and chuckles over Nova's wounded face. 

Of the two, he likes Nita better.

Sil, when she joins the team, is omega; _fiercely_ omega around Dwayne even when she still resents him for her injuries. Vance’s half intimidated, half impressed. She’s the role model he didn't know he needed.

He’s quietly glad when they work things out.

His parents give up on him, loudly, over dinner one of the nights he spends at home. He clenches his hands into fists under the table, grits his teeth and bears it before retreating to his bedroom and slipping out of the house in the early hours for the long commute into the city.

After a few months, the team are practically living at Dwayne’s swanky penthouse when they're not living their personal lives. Vance doesn’t have one so he spends most of his time at the penthouse when he's not in classes or at the campus library, and he sleeps in a guest room at Dwayne's after he's discovered asleep over his books one too many times; he knows it's dangerous but he measures his dangers in the kindnesses that go along with them.

Dwayne doesn’t seem to mind even if Chord and Tai do.

 

“I wouldn’t have picked it,” says Sil. Somehow, she is at his shoulder as he stirs cream into his coffee. He's trying for an all-nighter ahead of exams. Her hand swoops in and catches the cup before it can fall, not a drop is lost. “Your scent diffuser is wearing off, you should see to that before the two knuckleheads arrive. Follow me.” She doesn’t say any of it unkindly and he fights down an army of emotions that threaten to send him fleeing from the building and the life he has built up here.

Sil doesn’t have a room in the penthouse, she shares Dwayne’s, and it’s to his team leader’s bedroom that she leads Vance, into the spacious adjoining bathroom. She opens a drawer and removes a spray bottle, offering it to him. He swallows audibly, throat moving as he tries to form words. Her hand finds his shoulder and pats it gently.

“Hey, it’s okay, your secret is my secret,” she says and leaves him, closing the door behind her.

'It smells nice,' he thinks as he uses it. It’s not like his usual scent, not a _beta_ scent, but if it gets him home without trouble he won’t forget her kindness.

 

Dwayne nods goodbye to Vance as the teen leaves in a hurry.

Sil slides out of a shadow and sits beside Dwayne, kissing him softly.“That was kind,” she says, letting her crutches fall to the ground as he sweeps her up in his arms. “If you hadn’t asked me to talk to him, I’d never have known.”

His nose butts hers gently. “I didn’t want to spook him, he’s a good kid, it was better coming from another omega. He's smart, adaptable, stronger than he knows-- I don’t want to lose him off the team.” Their enemies are becoming increasingly dangerous. Dwayne's answer is more training but Vance will know if it's just him. He glances at Silhouette as her hand slides up his chest. Perhaps she's the answer to the problem. The more he considers it, the more it makes sense. Sil can train Vance in secret.

She sighs and sits up. “I’m gonna make sure he gets home safe, okay?”

Nodding, he releases her. “I’ll see you later?”

“Of course.”

"I've got an idea to run past you when you get back." He picks up her crutches and hands them back to her. “Take care of yourself, it's not just dangerous for him,” he says with a growl.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vance’s deception continues and he learns how to fight from Sil but must put it all to use almost immediately though it might not be enough to save him.

Silhouette finds him alone in the kitchen a few days later. “We need to talk.”

“About…”

She’s the only one who knows his secret and nothing has changed that he can tell, she still treats him as she did before. No one else treats him any differently either. “You lack necessary self-defence skills. I’ll teach you.”

“Why?”

“I overheard one of the alphas talking. It’s not going to be long before they work it out.”

She doesn’t elaborate and he doesn't ask for details, he should but it’s his worst nightmare, the one where the team discover he’s an omega and everything changes. “When?”

They make a time to meet, not at the penthouse but at a dojo that Sil trusts, run by women and omegas. She volunteers there when she can though the team is taking most of her time. When he arrives, bundled up in a hoodie that hides his face and loose clothes to hide his body, everyone in the dojo looks at him. Most are beta femme, any omegas are female presenting, he’s the only one who looks male.

He takes a step back and ducks his head, uncomfortable under the gaze of so many eyes, turning to leave but Sil waves him over to where she stands.

“Stick around, watch the class. We’ll talk later.”

At first, he goes to the dojo and learns to protect himself as an omega, not a man. Everyone there is having to deal with something hard though, some have already lived it, or someone in their family, or a friend has been assaulted, and they don’t necessarily like or want him there. He realises that he lives in a bubble, the only omega he knows is Sil and they don’t really talk but he takes the self defence class with the rest of the omegas and femmes, and, afterwards, he learns more advanced defence techniques. Techniques that Sil devises to keep him safe in the kinds of battles they fight with the team, and together they work out how he can use his powers to augment the moves. 

None of them are prepared for an attack on the dojo, he’s grateful it’s after class and more than half have left. They’re not prepared for an attack from the Hand and it’s apparent quickly that the women and teenagers, some with children, are enormously outclassed. It would’ve been a slaughter if it wasn’t apparent that the Hand are there to abduct as many omegas as possible.

It’s a fight for their lives, and Sil begins to grab women at random and disappear with them, returning alone. Again and again, she rests at his back for a moment, breathing hard between evacuations, her crutches damaged and sparking. “This is bad!”

He’s having trouble summoning up his telekinesis, he’s already used it too much, his head is pounding, and blood is dripping from his nose into his mouth. “I know, we need the others! You’ve got to get the Warriors!”

“I’m not leaving you....”

“You have to, you can’t keep this up. I can’t either.” He sounds braver than he feels.

She stares at him and then nods. He creates a shadow, shields her escape, and it goes from bad to worse after that. Sil’s friend, Sensei Rosa calls a retreat to the rooftop and he’s told to go, to join the others but the roof is a disaster, more Hand wait there and, even defending himself with his failing powers, he’s subdued quickly in a multi-sided attack that ends when he catches a kick to the head.

He goes down hard and is only vaguely aware of hands on him as they try to work out what he is. Bindings drag his arms behind his back and two of the Hand are in the process of putting a restraint collar on him for transport when Nova arrives and kicks them off the building, punching a third to dust.

“Supertights,” Nova growls with barely restrained rage as he tears the bindings off Vance’s wrists and breaks the collar, crushing it between his hands. “Team meeting after we beat down the ninjas. Looks like you’ve got some explaining to do.”

Vance slumps sideways, conscious though he’s broken and bruised, his eyes are barely cracked open and one is actively swelling shut, and he watches the fight play out. It’s still not even, there’s too many Hand ninja everywhere and Sil is trying to evacuate the last of his remaining classmates and her friends in the middle of it all. He can hear sirens in the distance but they’re too late. It’s sobering to realise how close it came, it would’ve been all over except for Sil and the team.

Everyone ignores him, hidden in shadow near the edge of the roof, and he’s grateful for it. Sil appears next to him, she looks exhausted and there’s a sharp gash down her cheek that's bleeding but she dredges up a smile.

“Your turn,” she says, pulling him down into darkness.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if this isn't what you wanted. Especially if you wanted something more explicit.


End file.
